Why Does Scuba Diving Make You Tired?

Coming back from a relaxing dive and now feel very tired and very hungry like you could eat the biggest plate of food possible. All you want to do is sleep. And now wondering why so you always feel tired after scuba diving.

The reason is that no matter how much fun diving is, it’s a lot of work. There are a few contributing factors from anxiety, decompression stress, exercise, and seasickness that all contribute to you feeling tired after a relaxing dive.

In this post, we will go through why scuba diving makes you feel tired after diving. Let’s get started!

Why Does Scuba Diving Make You Tired?

They are contributing factors that make divers very tired. Let us look at the contributing factors.

Decompression stress.
Anxiety.
Diving is a lot of work.

Decompression Stress

Decompression stress is simply the stress on the body when the diver starts ascending from their dive. It is important that divers manage to ascend to avoid excessive micro bubbles formation and decompression sickness.

If a dive ascend is mismanaged you can get decompression sickness, and may feel sluggish, and a need to sleep after diving.

The risk of decompression sickness increases the deeper you dive. But it can occur after diving any depth. This is why it’s important to ascend to the surface slowly and gradually.

The micro-bubbles, whilst essentially harmless in themselves, are believed to trigger an immune response in the body. The tail-end of that immune system cascade includes the release of histamine and then serotonin into the body.

Those, in turn, can make you feel tired and sleepy.

Anxiety

Feeling nervous before a dive or anxious is normal. It needs to be managed as anxiety is naturally tiring. This is because the energy levels ups and downs that anxiety causes can leave you feeling incredibly drained.

It can also cause extreme fatigue, and that needs to take a nap. Feeling tired is a natural bodily reaction that is often caused by stress and anxiety.

Diving Is A Lot Of Work

Just the activity of scuba diving alone uses a lot of energy. It is estimated that diving can burn as much as 600 calories per hour. You have to manage the currents and moving through the water with long slow movement and managing your breathing. The temperature of the water affects the number of calories you burn per hour.

Regardless of your fitness level or preferred exercise, eating properly and drinking enough water before and after your dive is important. This will help will any tiredness or fatigue, as it keeps your body with fuel.

Tips To Prevent Been Tired From Scuba Diving

There are ways to reduce the effects of feeling tired from scuba diving. Here are a few tips to help reduce the effects.

Drink Water – The night before the dive drink more water than normal. Also, drink water before, during, and after the dive.
Avoid Caffeine – Dehydration is a major cause of fatigue, and caffeine will dehydrate you.
Avoid Alcohol – Alcohol cause dehydration is a major cause of fatigue.
Remember NOT To Panic – As well as panicking leads and causes most preventable diving accidents. It’s as tiring. Remember to stay calm, even try any self-calming that may help you stay calm and you can work your way out of any diving issue.
Avoid Stress – Stress can affect your sleep as well as other things. It is important to learn how to unwind this problem.
Avoid Putting On Wetsuit Until You Have To – The wetsuit can cause you to overheat and sweat more particularly in a hot climate.
Still, in Good Physical Shape – Regular exercise not only reduces stress but also improves stamina. This means you have more energy and less likely to feel tired after diving.
Get A Good Nights Sleep – A good night’s sleep before diving is priceless. Not getting a good night’s sleep can cause stress and not be able to perform at 100%.

Wrapping Up

Finally, you can overcome the feeling of been tired after scuba diving by doing a few basic steps before going diving. If you can avoid alcohol and stress and gets a good night’s sleep as well as keeping yourself in good physical shape.

Then there is no reason to reduce and overcome that tired feeling after diving.

And that’s it for now! I’d love to know if this guide on why does scuba diving makes you tired has helped you. Let me know if you have any questions and let me know if there is more to add.